Guardian
by FabulousJojo
Summary: Amos' life has just been sent into turmoil, and he is slowly sinking into depression. But a run-in with a creature turns his world around as he seeks to protect her. But Amos didn't expect the creature to be so...odd.


I sighed, letting the snow crunch beneath my feet as the looming building came into view. Wrapping my crimson scarf around my neck I approached closer.

As I opened one of four doors leading inside, I was greeted by a familiar face.

"Ammy! Dude, come check this out!" An almost devilish smile complimented by soft, green eyes, a pale complexion, and curly brown hair easily told be the boy's name.

"Emmett, what is it this time?"

He grinned. "We caught a video of Parker making a dumbass of himself. Had a little too many, eh? He ended up rolling in the dirt mixed with his puke."

"Ew," I commented. "Why would you want to tape something like that?"

"No, no, no, man. It's not mine. Jimmy shot it, I think." He scratched his head. "Anyway, how's life been fairing for you? I heard about...that."

I felt a lump rise in my throat, threatening to emerge from my mouth.

"Oh," I cleared my throat, trying to gather my bearings. "Yeah."

Emmett's face took on a worried look as he pulled me aside. "Look, man. I've been there too. You know if you need a place to stay...I won't let you camp out. Not when it's like this." He gestured outside, where snow was falling faster than it had been a minute ago.

"I'll find somewhere, don't worry." I smiled hesitantly. "Are you coming? To the funeral, I mean."

"'Course, man! Wouldn't miss it. Hang in there, you hear?" He patted me on the back.

"Don't get all mushy on me, then." I chuckled quietly.

He smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it."

* * *

The bell rang, signalling the end of school. Relieved, I half jogged to my locker, prying it open with a jerk, and shoving all of my usual supplies in my shoulder bag. I closed my locker quickly, heaved the bag strap over my shoulder, and set off home.

It was still snowing, but the flakes were ten times larger than they had been earlier. I tightened my scarf and zipped up my coat as tightly as they could be, making myself look part igloo. I didn't live very far, half an hour to forty five minutes and I was usually home, but the cold was sure taking its toll.

I was just about to turn the block where my house was when I heard a soft noise, almost indistinguishable from the dull hum of the city. I stopped in my tracks for a second, to see if I was imagining things.

It came again, the smallest bit louder than before. I headed towards it, daring to believe my ears.

I knelt before a small snowbank, where I assumed the sound came from. Sure enough, it came again, and I began to dig furiously. After a couple swipes of snow I was able to see that a small creature had been buried within the snow. I inhaled quickly, digging out the rest of the snow and lifting the creature in my arms.

It's eyes were half open, a soft chocolate brown, and it resembled the size of a cat, only it looked nothing like one. It's fur, though matted in snow, was a light brown, with cream fur around its neck, with two long ears pointing out of its head. I couldn't think of any creature that looked like this, but it reminded me of something I had seen previously.

Stumped, and not willing to leave the creature in the cold any longer, I ran the rest of the way home, yanking open the door and cranking the heat. No one was home, as usual, as I gently laid the creature on my couch. I dashed to my room, pulling the warmest blanket I had and rushed back to the creature, wrapping it tightly in the cloth.

Then I just sat there, staring. It almost felt rude - but then I reminded myself that this wasn't human. Would I still need to use manners on an unknown creature? Speaking of which, I needed to look up what this thing was.

Booting up my laptop, I typed in my password, glancing at the creature once I did so. Clicking the Google Chrome icon, I typed in "brown furry creature with long ears and white fluff".

Nothing similar to the creature popped up at all. I sighed, feeling stupid not knowing what else to describe it as. Looking over to where the creature lay, I was greeted by two huge brown eyes that were a little too close for comfort.

"Agh!" I flinched. The creature narrowed its eyes, looking from me to the keyboard. I sat upright, ruffling my hair.

"What?" It wouldn't stop flicking its eyes. It promptly sat down, looked at the keyboard, and spoke.

"Eevee." it said.

"I'm sorry what?" I blinked, hardly daring to believe my ears.

"Eevee." the creature repeated.

I stared at the creature, for what seemed like the tenth time that day, my mouth agape. The creature gave me a stern look, glanced at the keyboard again, and repeated the same statement.

"Eevee."

Daring to take a chance, I typed in the word 'Eevee' and was greeted with several...cute pictures? It was easy enough to see that this creature, if it was an 'Eevee' definitely existed in some way.

I clicked on the web portion, going to the Wikipedia page and blinked. Wait, did it just say that this creature was part of a...video game? But - it's sitting right beside me, that can't be true!

I scrolled through the rest of the article (skimming of course), shaking my head all over the place. Apparently Eevee was from a fictional video game called Pokemon. In other words, not real. I vaguely remembered something about the Pokemon franchise, their mascot was a yellow mouse called Pika-something. I never really got into it but I've heard they were fairly interesting games. If I ever heard of them at all, that is.

The creature, I mean, Eevee gave me a look that seemed to say 'Get it?' and proceeded to walk off the couch, stumbling to the floor.

"Hey, wait! You shouldn't be walking off like that, you're still hurt!"

Eevee shot me another look, this time more annoyed. I could detect the slight aroma of arrogance from it.

"You know I'm right." I folded my arms together. Eevee made a growling noise, suddenly lying down on the carpet, defeated. It growled every time I tried to get close so I eventually decided to leave it be.

So here I sat, on a comfy couch staring at a fictional creature that refused to look at me.

"My name is Amos," I tried speaking with it. "I'm guessing you're Eevee."

"Ee."

"Uh, got it." I scratched the back of my head, wondering something that needed to be answered. "So this is a bad question, but are you a boy or a girl?" I saw the hairs on Eevee's back raise, and its ear twitched.

"Eve."

"Surprisingly, that's not helping." I slumped my chin into my hand. "Shake your head or something. Are you a boy?"

Eevee seemed to sigh, stood on its four legs, walked over to me and shook its head back and forth, glaring at me.

"A girl, huh? Good to know. You must be hungry..." I trailed off, before jumping to my feet. "Food!" I yelled, running to the kitchen. Eevee watched me with an almost disgusted look.

I rummaged through my cupboards looking for something that this work of fiction could eat without dying. Chocolate? Better not risk it. Bread? No... I opened my fridge and saw a bag of carrots sitting in there, along with some fruit that was very ripe. Natural things couldn't hurt, could they?

I brought the bag of carrots, along with an apple, banana and a peach out to the living room and sat in front of Eevee.

"You're going to eat now." I put on a smile, offering a carrot to her. She scowled and turned around, her bushy tail flicking at me. I huffed a sigh. Without thinking I put my hands under her belly, turned her around and shoved the food in her face - all of it.

"Eat." I commanded. Reluctantly, and to my surprise, she nibbled on the carrot. I watched her until she finished, and moved onto the peach. Good, nothing seemed to be hurting her, meaning I could successfully feed her. I'm saying this like I plan on keeping this...thing. Sure, she might be a bit...reclusive and extremely arrogant, but Eevee would have died if I didn't take her. Or worse...I shuddered

My brow furrowed as I watched her take a huge bite of the peach. Instantly her eyes widened, and for the first time I saw the corners of Eevee's mouth turn up in a smile. My eyes widened, who knew that these things could smile! Eevee then proceeded to gobble up the remainder of the peach in a flash, astounding me further.

"Woah, guess you like that, huh?" I grinned stupidly, chuckling slightly. She eagerly nodded, giving me a firm look. I got the hint. "I'll go look for more then." And so I did, watching as Eevee ate the other five peaches I brought out. I made a mental note to buy more peaches at the grocery store tomorrow. She looked at me again, expecting more, but I sadly told her I had none left.

Unbelieving, she huffed and stormed into the kitchen herself. I heard the rustle of my fridge door opening and closing, and a gloomy looking Eevee came and curled up beside me.

"I'll get more tomorrow, okay? Just promise me that you won't push yourself too hard and you can have as many as my money's willing to buy." Her ears perked up at that, and with a soft sigh and another one of Eevee's looks, she went to the blanket I laid out and curled right under it.

"Cool." I muttered to myself, still in a daze about everything that just happened.

I have a Pokemon. A fictional, no, a real, live, Pokemon. And her name was Eevee.

* * *

"I know it's stuffy in there, but we don't have much else of a choice if you want to come with me!" I squished Eevee back into my bag. "It's only for awhile."

She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance but complied. I felt like I was starting to get the hang of this entire caring for Eevee thing. Whatever wounds she had had had already healed within the few days I've had her, and I have honestly felt a lot better with her around.

It's not quite as quiet in my house anymore with her running amok and stealing any peaches from my fridge. I've had to ration her peach intake so that we have enough to last us the week (she hates it).

But today was a little more...depressing. Originally I didn't want to take her with me but she insisted on going out.

The snowfall had thankfully gone down since I found her, you could almost see greenery in areas. Though didn't completely mask the clench of my heart when I looked at the gloomy building. I stepped in, only to see several grim people standing around a classically polished box. I knew this box from anywhere, it's very iconic. I also knew that my mother lay in there, dead.

I stared at the coffin for a few minutes, holding back my emotions. Eevee tried to pop her head out, but I kept her in. I needed to face this alone.

"Hi." Emmett nodded from beside me, also gazing down at the coffin. So much for alone time.

"You came." I actually felt grateful that he was here, part of me thought he might skip out.

Emmett gave me a look. "Of course I did. I know this means a lot to you, okay? Besides, I knew your mom too. She was really nice."

"That's only scratching the surface." I smiled, thinking of the memories I shared with my mother. The time she threw me so high in the air I thought I would die, or when I came into the house literally coated in mud and she just gave me a giant hug. My favourite time was more recently, before she died.

"Amos did you take the garbage out?" My mom called.

"Crap. No I didn't!"

"...Well go do it." she said after a pause.

"Can I do it later?" I was draped across my bed browsing the internet and in a very comfortable position.

"No, Amos. Do it now!"

"Motivate me."

I heard her sigh, but the grin in her voice made me smirk.

"You know, in a recession the most secure job is garbage man."

I blinked. "And?"

"Business is always picking up!" she howled with laughter after saying the last line. I almost slapped myself.

"Well do you know why people don't talk to garbage men?"

"Why?"

"They only talk trash!" Then I started laughing, hearing my mothers laughter echo from downstairs. I leapt off my bed and stuck my head out enough to see her wipe moisture from her eyes.

"Wait, wait," she coughed, calming herself down. "A garbage man was digging through trash.."

"Go on..."

"And he said 'Man I am down in the dumps today!" We both keeled over laughing at our horrible jokes.

"What a smelly situation!"

Then we both went quiet.

"Amos. I will not allow you to spout such horrible puns in this house."

Then we burst out laughing again.

I saw my mothers face twisted into her smile, her face full of joy. Even her radiant, chocolate eyes - my eyes - smiled. Her hair was previously tied in a messy bun, but that bun had easily become demolished through the course of her laughing so hard, and now her straight, brunette hair was hanging loosely near her hip.

My mother had a skinny, lanky figure. 'Not much to sneeze at' she had told me, 'but still enough to go around'. Her demeanour never failed to shock me in some way.

I was heartbroken the day I came home and a police car was parked in the driveway. The officers there looked at me with sad eyes, and told me everything. How it was an accident, the other driver was out of control and hit multiple cars, one of them containing my mother. That was the drivers final blow, and it left its mark.

She was the only one that died out of 11 victims.

A one in eleven chance to die, and I got the unlucky draw. I didn't believe them at first, until I saw her body. The tears came and didn't stop. I don't think they could have even if I wanted them to. Apparently she died on impact and felt nothing, but she was still gone. I started living on my own ever since.

"I know I don't know your mom as well as you do, Ammy, but I still knew her." Emmett's voice jogged my mind back into place.

"I know." I gazed down at my mothers face for the last time, taking in every detail. She looked so different, dressed up for her last show. I liked to imagine that she wore sweats and a tank top in the afterlife, wherever she was.

A man in a dapper tux came and asked me if I was finished. I nodded and he slowly shut the head portion of the coffin. Bye, mom.

* * *

The rest of the funeral went as you would imagine. A priest came up, said some things about what a kind soul she was as many of us (even me at one point) shed a tear. Nothing special happened after the burial. We all just left. At least, everyone else did. I waited until the coast was clear.

"Alright, you can come out."

Instantly, Eevee jumped out of my rucksack, walking around like she never had before. It took a minute before she gathered in her surroundings enough to look at the grave we were beside.

"Eve?" she asked.

"It's my mother, if that's what you mean." A picture of her was placed atop her grave, smiling as she always did. I twiddled a rose in my hands. They had handed them out during the burial, but I wanted to save mine for this moment.

"Want to say goodbye with me?" I knelt down at the grave. Eevee curiously watched as I planted the rose in the fresh dirt.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's happy wherever she is." I smiled fondly, looking at the rose which was crooked to the side. Eevee stood on the grave, gazed at the rose, nipped off a petal, and placed it beside the flower.

"Good enough, I suppose. Ready to go?" I turned around to head down the dusty path, but was blocked by a stern man in a tight tuxedo.

"You're not going anywhere." he said. "FBI secret agent Marshall." Marshall stuck his badge in my face.

"And secret agent Kola." A blonde woman with sunglasses briefly showed her badge. "We need to talk."

"Indeed. We've heard that you have a new species of life with you." Marshall lowered his gaze to where Eevee sat, her back turned to him. He was a dark skinned man, who also wore sunglasses, and had stubble around his lower face. "The rumours are true." he said in his deep voice.

He shoved me aside, reaching for Eevee. Suddenly, she jerked back, on all four legs now.

"C'mon..." Marshall muttered, reaching for her again.

"No!" I yelled, but was stopped by Kola who looked almost bored as she held me back.

Eevee hissed, launching herself at the formally dressed man and sinking her sharp teeth into his left bicep.

A loud cry echoed across the graveyard, as Marshall tried shaking Eevee's small body off him. Her bite remained strong, however, and it was only when Kola interfered and tried to grab her that Eevee retracted her teeth and geared up to launch again.

This time, she tackled Agent Kola to the ground - hard. Kola coughed, absolutely winded.

Eevee ran to me, jumping in my arms. I was almost scared, but caught her all the same.

Then I bolted. Where? I had no clue. All I heard was the stomp of every footstep I took and my heart hammering in my ears.

"Stop!" Agent Marshall ordered after us. I ignored him, and kept running. He swore loudly, and the next thing I felt was a rope around my ankles, tripping me. I fell hard, dropping Eevee in the process.

"Go!" I yelled, unable to move properly myself. But she stood there, her calm brown eyes looking into my fearful ones. She hopped to my ankles, biting the rope that tangled me. I was too breathless to speak.

The trap was broken, and I was free to run again. The only problem was, I was cornered.

"Give us the creature!" Kola pointed a gun at me. My heart slowed, rather than quickening, and my eyes widened. I looked around, and saw that Marshall had his gun pointed at me, too.

I didn't think. I didn't run. I didn't fight. I grabbed Eevee, and caved myself around her. I didn't care. No one was going to take her away from me. Not like this.

I didn't hear what they said. All I saw was Kola pulling out another gadget, and a stream of electricity.

Then I felt pain.

Excruciating, unending pain. I screamed, but forced myself to stay as I was, cradled around Eevee. I opened my eyes through the tears that had formed and saw Eevee's face underneath me. She was scared. All I could read in her expression was fear and horror.

It felt like hours until the pain stopped. I collapsed, physically defeated. Eevee was left out in the open, free to grab. All because I wasn't strong enough to protect her. The last thing I saw was Eevee's face. A look of determination and then a shining light.

* * *

I jolted awake, gazing at a leafy ceiling. Leafy? I've never seen anything like that be- twitch. What. That didn't feel good. Twitch. It happened again! How awful! Why can't I control these twitches?!

Ten it all came back to me. Eevee. The funeral. Those agents. Eevee.

"Wh-where is s-she?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Who?" A voice answered.

"Eevee! M-my friend!" I kept twitching, much to my annoyance.

"Ah, her. Quite a lovely girl I must say. Fine, Fine, good sir, but first we must, ah, discharge you." This person had a funny way of speaking. They talked in a lighter tone than was needed, almost like talking to a child.

"D-discharge...?" I dared to ask.

"Not to worry, not to worry! Simple task, yes. Hold still."

I looked over at what was talking to me and almost cried out. It was yellow! And black! And...I had no idea what it was.

"What's with the look? Hm, hm? I'm not that ugly! Have some respect, good sir!" The creature puffed out is chest.

"It's not that. Wha- Who are you?" I asked, bewildered.

"Yes, yes. They call me Ampharos. Hold still!" Ampharos placed his small, stubby...hands on my chest and I saw a bolt of electricity run through my body to his...hand.

"Right, right. One more should do!" He went off and rubbed a cloth on his hands.

"Uh, just curious but, what are you doing?"

He gave me a look. "Discharge! Simple task. Tut, tut. Silly boy, HOLD STILL!" he thundered as another bolt of electricity was transmitted from my body to his. I yelled in pain for a second, then fell back against the wooden stretcher I was laying on.

"Can you answer me a question?" I asked. Ampharos scuttled around wiping his hands on a cloth again, but nodded all the same. "Where am I?"

"Ah!" he said. "Memory, memory! Eevee brought you here, with the help of Swellow, anyway, but yes! Welcome to Mirage Town!" he scuttled about, motioning for me to get up. I sat up, noticing the bandages on my chest.

"Was it bad? My wounds, I mean."

"Not really. No, no. Simple task! Stand! WALK!" he urges.

"Okay!" I stumbled to my feet, but was surprisingly able to walk around just as easily as I had before, save for a small pain in my side.

"Eat!" He shoved an herb in my face. I chewed on it questioningly as Ampharos handed me a glass of water. I drank gratefully, the bitter taste of the herb washing down into my stomach, leaving a fresh feel through my body.

"Now go," he said. "She's waiting for you."

"But-"

"GO!"

* * *

And so I went, out onto a deck connected by a small ladder to the ground. I could have easily jumped, but didn't want to risk it, so I dangled my leg over the edge until I found the ground.

I was in a forest. Not dense, but forest-y enough that you could get lost. All around me were tiny houses, not unlike the one I just exited. Simple wood planks supported the leaves shading the cozy interior. I walked along a vaguely visible dirt path, unsure of where I actually was headed. The next building over looked like something to start with.

As I entered the wooden house, several heads turned to look at me. Only, these heads weren't human. Or any other animal that I could recognize.

A variety of creatures looked at me with modest curiosity, some with eyes widened, and others with eyes narrowed. I stepped in towards a figure hunched over a small table.

From the back, the figure had two long pink ears with ribbons flowing around its head. The figures head was on the table, as if it were sad or worried. At least, that was my interpretation of it.

"Uh," I cleared my throat. "Could you tell me where I could find Eevee?" I shifted around nervously.

The figure's ears perked up at the sound of my voice. Slowly, it turned around, and two big, blue orbs stared at me in wonder. Those same eyes filled with happiness , and a smile grew on the figure's face as it came closer to me.

"Uh," I shifted my eyes around uncertainly. The figure raised its eyebrow at me.

"You seriously don't forget me, do you?" it said, the voice remarkably female.

"That's debatable. I'm also not understanding why I can talk to all of these...creatures, but I'm really just going with it right now. I don't even know if what I saw before I blacked out was real."

Rolling her eyes, the creature stepped on my foot - hard. I recoiled back, holding my foot as I fell to my knees.

"Why would you do that?!" I cried, rubbing my foot.

"You saved my life," she started. "I will never be able to repay you for that so, thanks."

I paused, staring at her expressions. "Eevee?" I asked.

"Technically, I'm Sylveon now, but yeah. Hi."

"Hi." I sat on the wooden floor, taking in as much of Sylveon as I could.

"I evolved," she said. "Because our, ah, _bond_, was so close."

"That sounds incredibly cheesy."

"It is. I'd rather not talk about it. But there's another thing I need to bring attention to."

I ran a hand through my hair, gesturing for her to continue. Sylveon cleared her throat. "Now that I know you're alive, I was wondering if...maybe...you would, you know, stay here. With me. And everyone else, of course."

The other creatures around me nodded as I took a deep breath. "Stay?"

"It's fine if you don't want to, I mean, it was stupid of me in the first place and you may not even be allowed-"

"No, no, no! I want to stay, Eev - er, Sylveon. ...What do you mean, not allowed?"

"Arceus might forbid it. Humans have been here before, wrecked it up good." A purple monkey with a hand on the tip of its tail swung above him.

"That's enough, Aipom. My point is, you should be able to stay, since you saved my life. That should be proof enough that you're a good guy."

"Do I dare believe my ears? You finally think highly of me! Huzzah!" I threw my hands up in the air.

"Right," she rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Let's go talk to him, anyway."

"There's no need for that." A booming voice reverberated around in my head. Apparently the other creatures (Were they Pokemon, too?) heard it too, for some covered their ears while others had grim expressions on their faces.

"Should I be scared?" I whispered to Sylveon. She hit me in the gut with a stern look on her face.

Then what appeared to be what I would think a mythical being would be, came into view. Its slender white body had a golden ring around its waist, the majestic creature's body similar to that of a deer. It's eerie green and red eyes stared down at me, as if scanning through me.

"I've seen what you and young Sylveon have gone through. This does not mean I had trust in you. But, when I observed the incident with those suited humans, you could say I grew faith." The creature landed on the ground gracefully.

"Arceus..." Sylveon stepped up. "Are you saying th-that..."

"Of course. I deem this human worthy enough to stay, considering the length he went to to keep you safe, especially when you two were not that familiar. Speaking of familiarity, I would like to observe the bond that you two share. It is something that I haven't seen in a very long time. In short, Amos may stay with us. Providing he accepts my one request."

"What would that be?" I spoke up, finally, my heart racing with excitement.

"There's a phrase that goes like so: 'an angel must earn their wings'. I would like to grant you your own pair of wings, so that you may be able to protect all of us that live here in this sanctuary."

"So a literal pair of wings."

"Precisely."

I laughed, pacing around. "Yes," I said ecstatically. "I'd be honoured."

"So be it." Arceus said. He closed his eyes, and then I saw a shimmering light. Both of my shoulder blades seared with pain, but that pain was soon defeated, as two large new weights were dangling from my back.

"Woah!" I freaked out, running in circles, picking up Sylveon and wraping her in a tight hug. I saw her face redden as she smiled back at me, happy tears flowing from her face. "Ready?" I asked.

"More than I'll ever be." she clung on tight to my arms as I rushed outside, extending my wings as far as they would go, and took off, rather unbalanced, into the sky.

* * *

The wind against my face, the exotic view of a waterfall, mountains, this truly was a serene place. I flew through trees, not missing a beat. Sylveon remained by my side as I went on the usual patrol of the area.

I am a Guardian.


End file.
